Welcome back to the Now Newsletter. I’m Matt Medved.
As spring settles in here in NYC, I know it’s been quiet on our end for a minute. We’ve been embracing a season of renewal ourselves with an intentional reset, refining and realigning with the bigger vision for Now Media going forward.
This pause wasn’t about stepping back, but about stepping into what’s next with greater clarity and purpose. In a space where change is the only constant, we’ve been asking ourselves: how do we continue to evolve the brand to meet the moment at hand?
I won’t bore you with all the soul-searching details (at least not yet), but expect to see some new offerings in your inbox and across our channels in the coming months. For those who’ve been with us from the start — your support means everything. This next chapter is being built with you in mind. So stay tuned 😉
In the meantime, here are some thoughts on the current market.
️️Art Basel’s Art Market Report
Art Basel released its annual Art Market Report with UBS, and it’s about as bleak as you might expect.
Global art market sales fell 12% in 2024 to an estimated $57.5 billion, driven largely by a slowdown at the high end. Despite the decline in value, transactions rose 3% to 40.5 million. Dealer and public auction sales both dropped, while private sales by auction houses grew 14% year-on-year. The U.S. remained the top market with 43% of global sales by value, and the U.K. reclaimed second place at 18%.
In digital art and NFTs, the market continued its post-2021 slide, with Q4 2024 volumes reverting to near 2020 levels. All NFT segments declined in value: art fell 65% year-on-year, collectibles dropped 43%. Film, video, and digital art made up just 3% of total spending in H1 2024 and 7% of HNWI collections — flat from 2023 but down from 15% in 2022 — with digital artworks accounting for only 3%. The share of collectors buying digital art also fell from 17% in 2022 to 9% in early 2024.
Is it all doom and gloom for digital art? Whether this tariff-driven downturn signals a mid-cycle correction or the start of a new crypto bear market, one thing is clear: crypto investors are unlikely to feel the wealth effect anytime soon — a key prerequisite for liquidity to trickle into more illiquid assets like NFTs and digital art. However, a favorable regulatory outlook and the slow but steady embrace of digital art by major institutions suggest better days ahead.
The biggest issue on the minds of the digital art enthusiasts I speak to? It’s not just about floor prices or platform drama — it’s a deeper, more existential question: Where does the next wave of collectors come from?
In the early days, sales came from crypto-native investors chasing innovation and outsized returns. But that cohort has largely retreated — either exiting the market or chasing quicker gains in more liquid assets like memecoins.
With the speculative wave behind us, digital art is at a crossroads. To grow beyond a niche, the space must attract new collectors: traditional art patrons, institutions, tech-savvy creatives, younger audiences, and curious newcomers who may not yet own crypto.
The challenge? These audiences want meaning, not mechanics. Digital art’s future depends on removing friction and meeting people where they are. Otherwise, it risks talking only to itself.
Ethereum’s Price Spiral
Crypto investors are hurting across the board — but there’s a special pain in being an ETH holder.
ETH’s price dropped to $1,410 on Monday amid the ongoing tariff-fueled market turmoil, marking its lowest level since March 2023. Although its price has since rebounded above $1,600, ETH has underperformed the broader crypto market by 14% over the past month.
Remember when Eric Trump tweeted that it was a “great time to buy ETH” two months ago? World Liberty Financial sold $8 million worth of ETH this week at a loss, as its broader position approached $125 million in unrealized losses.
Ethereum is in a tough spot this cycle because it lacks a clear, compelling narrative to drive mainstream excitement. While it’s made major technical strides like the Merge and EIP-4844, there’s no breakout cultural moment or viral use case capturing attention like DeFi in 2020 or NFTs in 2021. Most of the memecoin action over the past year took place on Solana.
At the same time, competition from faster, cheaper Layer 1s like Solana — and the fragmentation across Layer 2s like Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base — has diluted Ethereum’s brand presence. It’s positioned as critical infrastructure, but that narrative lacks emotional appeal and is harder to rally around.
Add in lingering perceptions of high fees and clunky UX, and Ethereum feels more like the backend of web3 than its cultural front line right now. Does that justify a nearly $200 billion market cap for the blockchain once hailed as the “world computer?”
The bright side? Ethereum’s TVL hitting an all-time high (30.2M ETH) suggests that users and developers are still building and locking value on the network — even during a downturn. The SEC just approved options trading on spot ETH ETFs today, removing some regulatory uncertainty. Plus there’s room to rebound. With ETH underperforming the greater crypto market and sentiment near local lows, there’s asymmetric upside if macro conditions improve — especially with a potential Fed rate cut on the horizon.
In any case, if you’ve been eyeing that digital artwork, this might be your moment — it’s bear market pricing, collector’s cut.
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